Once more, the Skaneateles girls soccer team entered the Section III Class B playoffs, determined to find some success in a tournament where long, sustained runs had not happened too often.
Having a no. 10 seed did not help the Lakers, nor did a tough opening-round assignment Thursday at no. 7 seed Chittenango. However, a win here would mean a quarterfinal against no. 2 seed Clinton, a team Sknaeateles had just beat 2-0 the week before.
But the Lakers never got past the Bears, who prevailed 1-0 to go with the 3-1 decision it claimed over Skaneateles earlier in the month.
From that first meeting with Chittenango, Skaneateles had learned how to defend them, and focused on trying to contain the Bears’ Sarah Martin, whose season totals of 26 goals included all three in that first encounter with the Lakers.
Part of the effort involved getting chances of its own, which Skaneateles did. In all, it took 10 shots, but Chittenango goalie Ava Dardaris stopped all of them.
And while the Lakers did contain the Bears, for the most part, and Grace Kush got eight saves, Martin still managed to beat Kush once for what turned out to be the decisive goal.
With a finishing record of 9-7-1, Skaneateles will see 11 seniors depart, including Sarah Martin, Ryley Pas’cal, Maddy Williams and sisters Angelina and Isabella Reese. Yet key players like Kush, Riley Brogan. Grace Dower and Tess Peterson come back for 2019.
